The present invention relates generally to methods, data structures and apparatus suitable for interfacing graphical user interface containers with graphical user interface components objects. In a preferred embodiment, the containers that take the form of sliding panels associated with a particular window.
In computer systems, a graphical user interface (GUI) is often used to present information to a user. In a personal computer environment, analogies are sometimes made between the items in a GUI and a person's desk. For example, the initial screen that is displayed when a computer system is booted is typically referred to as a desktop. The desktop can include windows that overlap, folders, documents, a trash can, etc. As with a person's desk, a computer system's desktop can easily become cluttered making it difficult to find something located on the desktop.
Items such as an executable software program or a file can be represented on the desktop as icons. The user can initiate the software program by clicking (e.g., double or single click) on the icon using a mouse button. When a software program is initiated, an application window is opened that is used to display output and enter input associated with the application. The application window overlays the information already being displayed on the desktop. Such information may include icons displayed on the desktop or another application's window.
A GUI element such as an icon, window, or desktop can be activated or deactivated. When an element is selected, it becomes active. An activated element can be deactivated by selecting another element. To select an element, the element must be visible on the desktop. If it is covered by another element, it is impossible for the user to select the element. The element must first be found before it can be activated. This involves rearranging the items on the desktop to uncover the desired element.
Various techniques have been developed to make an element accessible. For example, in a process referred to as minimization, the size of a window can be reduced. A window can be minimized to the point that it is represented as an icon on the desktop, for example. A window can also be removed by closing it. Further, an element can be rearranged on the desktop. For example, windows can be dragged from one location on the desktop to another. The shuffling or resizing of elements on the desktop is time consuming. It can also be frustrating to the user particularly when the user needs to access to the element frequently or quickly.
Menus (such pop-up or pull-down menus) have also been used to make elements more accessible. The user clicks on a menu icon which cause the menu to be displayed. The user can click on an item in the menu to select the item. These menus are pre-configured and their entries act as a pointers to other items such as applications, folders or documents. In the Macintosh.TM. operating system, an apple icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen represents a menu that contains pointers to elements. To add an entry in the apple menu display, the user adds the element to an "Apple Menu Items" folder in the system's folder.
Another type of menu that is used in Windows 95 is the taskbar that exists at the bottom edge of Windows 95.TM. screen or desktop. The taskbar contains icons that represent open applications. To start an application, the user types in the location of the application in the system's file system, or the user selects an entry in a hierarchical menu structure (i.e., the location of the application associated with the entry has already been defined). When the application is invoked, an application window is opened on the desktop. When the application's window is minimized, an icon that represents the application remains in the taskbar. To activate the application, the user moves the cursor that is displayed on the desktop (using the mouse) to the taskbar. An option that exists in Windows 95 allows the user to hide the taskbar or remove it from sight until it is needed. The taskbar appears as a thin gray line at the bottom of the display, if this option is chosen.
The menus including the Apple menu used in the Macintosh operating system and the Windows 95 taskbar have a unitary function. In the case of the Apple menu, the menu holds pointers to an element stored in the operating system's file system. The Windows 95 taskbar holds pointers to suspended applications.
An improved user interface is described in Frank Ludolph's co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,958, which is incorporated herein by reference. As described therein, sliding panels are used as containers for various components. The described graphical user interface (GUI) is configurable in that a user may configure sliding panels located on the edges of the main window of the GUI to contain an application that runs in the sliding panel. An application that runs in a sliding panel can be, for example, an applet, an application program, a container application that contains GUI elements and provides functionally for managing the contained elements, a software buffer, a web browser or any other suitable component.
The present invention provides an improved framework for associating components with containers, such as the sliding panel containers described in the above referenced application.